I Promise.

Star Spangled Man With a Plan.

Chapter 23
I could practically die. A day at school without Steve is a day in hell.
  "You look like shit." Natasha says as I plop down into my seat.
  "Best boy got the flu. He's totally messed up." I said.
  "Damn, poor Steve. Why didn't you stay home." Natasha asked.
  "He didn't want me to. Told me that I had to go to school to get an education. Sounded like my dad." I scoffed.
  "We missed you at the party on Friday." Pepper interjected.
  "Yeah. I got Bruce's text. And Tony's." I chuckled to myself.
  "Damn, he actually sent it. That asshole." Natasha blurted out. That deserved a punch in the arm from Pepper.
  "What did it say?" Pepper asked. She was completely unaware of the situation.
  "It was a text to Steve. Told him to suck my dick." I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed my pencil out of my bag.
  "I hate how casually you just said that." Nat said.
  "Well, shit happens, Nat. I had to bathe him last night. Sucking his dick doesn't bother me in the slightest." I placed my pencil on my desk. Class was starting soon and I don't want to get my ass chewed out by Ms. Carter. She's one hell of a teacher.
  "He's that bad off?" Natasha asked.
  "Yeah. My boy couldn't even stand on his own." I answered. My boy was one of my little pet names for Steve. I never said it to his face though, he'd get too embarrassed.
  "I bet you're itching to go home, huh Buck?" Pepper asked.
  "Ouch, didn't asked to be outed like that, Pep." I grabbed my chest, acting like I was shot. She just chuckled and faced the board. I feel like this is going to be a long day. It doesn't help that I'm extremely tired, and I can't stop thinking of Steve puking his guts up. He's probably still on the bathroom floor.

  I sat in the floor of the music room. There was a pep rally going on, and I'm not the biggest fan of crowds. Plus I don't want to see all the cheerleaders out there. Reminds me too much of football. Sat across from me is Clint, who also doesn't do well with crowds. Whenever I get bored, I always start randomly singing. It's always been like that, even since I was young. One time I got so bored that I started singing "...Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears in my kitchen. It annoyed the hell out of my dad, but I was having a great time. This time I closed my eyes are started singing "Creep" by Radiohead. I've always really liked that song, and it was the first one that popped into my head, so why not sing it? As I was nearing the end of the song, I opened my eyes and saw that Clint was recording me. I felt my cheeks heat up.
  "Oh this is totally going to Steve." Clint laughed. I just grunted and tried to take the phone from him. He just shoved it under his ass so I wouldn't grab it.
  "Seriously man. Is there anything you can't do?" He asked me.
  "Notice when someone is filming me." I stated. He laughed at my dry sarcasm.
  "I'm not kidding, you're talented. That or my hearing aids blocked out how awful you sounded." He teased.
  "He's right, you know." I whipped my head around to see who it was. It was Sharon Carter. "Sorry to intrude, I just think you're really talented."
  "James Barnes." I offered her my hand. She promptly took it.
  "Sharon Carter. Nice to meet you." Her hand lingered on mine for a while. I pulled mine away. I knew exactly who she was. Steve used to have the biggest crush on her in middle school. She never even realized it. He was head over heels for her.
  "I hope to see you around, James." She smiled, and then went through the door.
  "Man, she really has no clue you are gay, huh." Clint said, standing up and stretching. I followed suit.
  "To be fair, most people don't." I said, grabbing my book bag from off the floor.
  "You've got a point there." He responded. "Walk with me to lunch?"
  Clint explained what happened to everyone during lunch, or mostly everyone. Half of us had first lunch, the other half had second. So really, he only explained it to Pepper, Rhodey, Natasha, Bruce, Loki, and Pietro. The other half would probably hear about it through Nat.
  "She totally digs you man. You need to get out of this." Rhodey says. I completely agree with him.
  "Yeah. I mean you are dating the star spangled man with a plan." Loki joked. Steve earned the nickname "Captain America" when he did this huge project on WWII and got an A plus. He even won the favor of the school board. Tony came up with the nickname, of course.
  "Listen," Pietro said through bites of his sandwich. "If this continues, you have to tell her how it is."
  "Listen, Buck-" She was stopped short.
  "Speak of the devil." I thought to myself. It was Sharon Carter, yet again. She tapped Pepper on the shoulder.
  "Pardon me, but what time do we   have practice?" She asked.
  "I told you earlier. Right after school. No excuses. We have to get this routine down." Pepper said.
  "Right, right. I'm so forgetful sometimes." She shook her head. "Hey, James." There it was. The excuse to come over.
  "So, how's Steve feeling?" Natasha interrupted. I've never been more thankful for her.
  "Oh! Steve Rogers! I know him! He's super sweet." Sharon said. We didn't really ask for her opinion, but I don't think she cared.
  "Wow what a small world. He happens to be Mr. Barnes boyfriend over here. Isn't that right, James?" Natasha said through gritted teeth. She was definitely getting her point across.
  "Yeah. Been with him for a while. He's the best." Sharon stared at me wide eyed. I don't think she's ever witnessed this happen.
  "Oh, you. Oh? Oh." Her face turned beet red. "You swing that way?" I nodded my head yes.
  "I'm so sorry for coming onto you like that. I-I didn't realize." She apologized. She seemed like a sweet girl, I now know why Steve likes her so much.
  "It's fine. Not a lot of people realize it. Probably the football body." I joked. She laughed.
  "I should probably get going. Maria is probably going to kill me for being so long. Have a good day!" She waved at all of us.
  "Well that was easy enough, thanks Natasha." She then stole a carrot from out of my tupperware container.
  "No problem, James." She said, while winking at me.
  Sam insisted that he drive me home. He said that he wanted to check on Steve.
  "So, how have you been doing?" Sam asked.
  "I've been pretty mediocre. Getting better here and there. Sometimes worse. Depends on the day. Depends on the memory." I answered.
  "I really hope you get better, man. You deserve to be happy." He never kept his eyes off of the road. He didn't want to stress me out.
  "The happiness comes and goes. Steve makes me happy. You guys make me happy, but one memory comes and it ruins it all. The car wreck fucked me up." I said.
  "Are you ready for the trial?" He asked.
  "Hell no, don't think I ever will be." I responded. "Steve has to testify, too. Has to explain my state and shit. He sat on my left side, so he saw how mangled my arm was before they took it off. He won't talk to me about it, though."
  "Isn't it coming up soon? The 13th or something?"
  "Close enough. It's actually the 14th. I'm gonna have to miss school again. So will Steve."
  "You think you'll be able to explain it? The accident, I mean."
  "Fuck no, but I'm going to have to. I have no other choice. It'll be hard as hell, but I have to do it at some point." He pulled into my driveway. We both stepped out of the car. I grabbed my keys out of my book bag, and started to unlock the door. Normally, I'd put my stuff away and go running, but I think I can let myself slide for today. We walk into the apartment and it's pitch black. I turned towards the door and felt for the light. I eventually found it, and then I saw Steve on the couch. He looked terrible.
  "Good lord. You look like you've been run over by a train." Sam said, walking over to Steve's side.
  "I feel like I have." Steve groaned. He was still a sickly pale color.
  "Did my mom drop off medicine on her break?" I asked, slowly making my way over to him.
  "Yeah. I took some. It helped a little bit." He stuck out his hand in hopes I would hold it. I complied.
  "You try to eat anything?" Sam asked.
  "His mom brought me some soup, but I haven't tried any yet." He responded.
  "It would probably help you. Try and eat some." I interjected
  "If I throw it up, I'm killing the both of you." Steve teased.
  "Like to see you try, pip squeak." Sam punched him gently in the arm.
I went to the stove and heated up the soup for him. Sam and Steve were laughing on the couch together. After the soup came to a slow boil, I poured it into a bowl and grabbed a spoon. I closed the cabinet with my hip, and walked towards the couch. Sam scooted to the left so I could sit in the middle of them.
  "So, Buck. Wanna talk about the whole Sharon Carter incident?" Sam asked me. Clint must have told him.
  "What about her?" Steve asked. It was only Monday and I wished that this week would end.
  "I don't know, everyone thought she was flirting with me. I told her I had a boyfriend, said it was you." I explained. "She said you were really sweet."
  "They didn't think she was flirting with you, they knew she was." Sam said.
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This was an odd situation to be in. Finding out your boyfriend was being flirted with is a little strange. It made me strangely jealous, and that never happens. He hangs out with girls all the time and it never bothered me.
  "Listen, I like girls and all but I'm a taken man." Bucky says with a smile. "Plus I like Steve more."
  "Well that's a blessing. If you didn't this would totally be awkward." I said. He had his hand on my thigh again, so there's no doubt in my mind that he didn't love me. He finds it hard to take his hands off of me.
  "That's... kind of cute." Sam's voice trailed off.
  "Well, we try." Bucky said.
  "Anyways, I should be going. I don't want my mom to eat my ass." Sam said, standing up.
  "Why. Why would you say something like that?" I asked.
  "Eat my ass, Rogers." Sam laughed. "Seriously though, feel better." He put a hand on my shoulder and gently shook it.
  "Take good care of him, Buck. We don't need him dying." Sam told Bucky. Bucky got up to walk Sam to the door.
  "Wouldn't even dream of it." Bucky said, holding open the door. He walked Sam out of the door, and came back and plopped himself onto the sofa next to me. I slide my bowl of soup onto the coffee table. I barely even ate a quarter of it. Bucky leaned over to see how much I ate, and he was sorely disappointed.
  "That's as much as I could eat, Buck. I don't want to push it." I told him.
  "I know." He sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair. I would totally go up to him and kiss him, but I don't want to possibly vomit all over him.
  "How was school without me?" I asked. I already knew about Sharon, but I wanted to hear about the rest of his day.
  "Incredibly boring. It felt weird. Sitting next to Rhodey at lunch felt strange. Normally you sit in the middle of us." He said.
  "You missed me?" I asked, sweetly. He elbowed me.
  "Of course I did, punk. Did you get Clint's message?" He asked me. I probably did but I haven't looked at my phone.
  "Probably. My phones upstairs so I can't see it." I responded. "What is it?" I asked.
  "Nothing much. Just a video of me singing. I didn't realize he was recording it." He ran his hand through his hair again.
  "God that's attractive." I thought to myself.
  "Why thank you. I try my hardest." Bucky said, smiling. It must've accidentally slipped out of my head and into my mouth. I felt the heat rise to my face, and I just leaned over and face planted into Bucky's lap. He put a hand over my head.
  "Jesus, since when did we adopt a dog?" He teased.
  "I'm sick you can't tease me like this." I said into his thigh.
  "If you throw up on me, we'll talk." He joked.
  "You may not want to make that bet. That very much could happen."
  "Gross? Get off my legs then, punk." He laughed.
  "Just for that comment, I won't."
  "Okay. Two can play at this game." He said. He stood up, and my face plopped onto the sofa. He then picked me up, grabbed me with one arm, put me over his back, and carried me upstairs. All while I was aggressively kicking my legs and hitting his back. Once we got into the room, he set me on my bed and doubled over laughing.
  "How did you do that?" I asked.
  "Pure determination, baby." He said, winking.
  "You're lucky I didn't vomit on your back." I teased.
  "If you ever did that, I'm throwing you in the sewers."
  "Don't tempt me."
  "I'm going to kill you, Rogers." He said, deadpanned.
  "Mhm. Okay, babe." I chuckled.